NewsWrap
for the week ending August 18, 2001
(As broadcast on This Way Out program #699, distributed 08-20-01)
[Written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Graham Underhill, Chris Ambidge,
Brian Nunes, Jason Lin, Rex Wockner, and Greg Gordon]
Anchored by Dean Elzinga and Cindy Friedman
Four AIDS activists arrested in the Indian city of Lucknow about six weeks
ago were finally freed on bail this week. The men work for the AIDS groups
Naz Foundation International and Bharosa Trust. In the wake of a police
sweep in a park that netted two AIDS outreach workers, police raided both
groups' offices on July 7th, closed them down, and arrested two more key
staff. The charges pending against the men include possession of obscene
materials and conspiracy to commit sodomy. This week several groups held a
sit-in at India's capital in New Delhi to demand that those charges be
dropped and India's colonial-era sodomy law, Section 377, be repealed. Last
week 26 organizatios demonstrated in Bangalore, and further actions are
planned in other cities. International human rights groups have also
denounced the arrests, with IGLHRC, the International Gay and Lesbian Human
Rights Commission, leading a letter-writing campaign.
International protest is the only hope, human rights groups on 5 continents
agree, for 52 men arrested in a May raid on a riverboat club in Egypt. Human
rights groups there have stood aside in fear for their own credibility. As a
second day of trial was held under heavy police guard in Cairo this week,
protest actions were staged in Antwerp, Bucharest, Geneva, London, Manila,
Stockholm, and 4 U.S. cities. The Egyptian government was reportedly
overwhelmed with phone calls and faxes, and it shut down its e-mail addresses
which had been published by IGLHRC. Also, 35 U.S. Congressmembers, led by
openly gay Massachusetts Democrat Barney Frank, have written to the Egyptian
government in protest. The 52 arrestees could face up to 3 years in prison
if convicted of "practicing debauchery," and there is no appeal from
decisions by the national security court where the trial is being held. This
week's hearing was largely devoted to defense requests to reduce the charges
to misdemeanors and move the cases to the regular courts. Prosecutors
presented nearly 900 photos allegedly showing the defendants engaging in sex.
Trial was adjourned until August 29th, when further protest demonstrations
are planned.
In the U.S., 48 people were arrested this week in a civil disobedience
action protesting the unequal treatment of gays and lesbians in the
5-million-member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. ELCA was holding
its General Assembly in Indianapolis, where -- rather than deciding such
hot-button issues as blessing same-gender relationships and ordaining
non-celibate gays and lesbians -- the denomination voted by a 9-to-1 margin
to spend the next four years studying its gay-related policies. While some
hailed the study plans as unprecedented, the study was just a delaying action
in the eyes of activists both within the denomination and from the national
group Soulforce. They responded by kneeling on the sidewalk outside the
convention center and refusing police orders to move. Each of the 48 was
fined $100 and released. Activists take heart, though, that by a narrow
margin the denomination elected a very gay-supportive leader.
Also wrestling with recognition of gay and lesbian couples is the state of
Massachusetts. Religious conservatives are trying to place before voters a
constitutional amendment against same-gender marriages, a move which
activists and some liberal politicians are seeking to block. Republican
Governor Jane Swift has consistently maintained that marriage should be
reserved for heterosexual couples. She was publicly criticized for that
position this week by her openly gay stepson Brian Hunt, who currently lives
in California. Swift denied his charges of hypocrisy, but announced
afterwards that her administration had extended a few domestic partner
benefits to some of the state's civil servants, and that similar benefits
would be extended to other state workers in the course of contract
negotiations over the next few years. The benefits do not include health
insurance, which would require a vote by the state legislature, but provide
for leave in the event of a partner's illness or death and for support for
victims of domestic violence.
A Texas gay man sentenced to death for the 1983 murder of his ex-lover won
a new chance to live this week. The case of Calvin Burdine won national
attention because his court-appointed attorney was asleep for portions of the
trial. That attorney made no objection to inflammatory use of anti-gay slurs
by the prosecution. Burdine has admitted to going to his former partner's
trailer on the night of the murder, but insists that it was another man who
went with him who did the stabbing. That man was released after 8 years in a
plea bargain that included his testifying against Burdine. In 1999 Burdine
won a federal trial judge's order to release or retry him. But last year a
panel of the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decided 2-to-1 to uphold his
conviction and death sentence, on the grounds there was no way to prove that
the parts of the trial his attorney slept through had been significant.
Burdine then appealed to the full bench of the same court, which ruled 9-to-5
this week that he had been inadequately represented and overturned his
conviction. State prosecutors must now decide whether to appeal to the U.S.
Supreme Court, hold a new criminal trial for Burdine, negotiate a plea
bargain with him, or release him.
The U.S.' nationwide manhunt for a suspected spree killer preying on gay
men ended with his arrest this week in Reno, Nevada. 19-year-old Adam
Ezerski will be extradited to Florida to be prosecuted for the late July
murders of 2 gay men there, Irving Sicherer and Anthony Martilotto. He is
also suspected of attacking another gay man in San Francisco earlier this
week.
Czech police acted quickly this week to arrest and charge 2 of 8 skinhead
youth who attacked a gay club in the Bohemian town of Liberec. Although the
skinheads failed in their attempt to force their way into the club, they did
about 10,000 korunas worth of damage to its door and windows. The two
arrestees, ages 15 and 18 years, are charged with supporting and promoting a
movement aimed to suppress the rights and freedoms of citizens, which carries
a maximum penalty of 5 years' imprisonment.
Britain's Scotland Yard this week issued new guidelines for London's
Metropolitan Police employees to behave more sensitively towards lesbians,
gays, bisexuals, and transgenders. The new "Policing Diversity Handbook", a
year in the making, was welcomed by the Lesbian and Gay Police Association.
It calls on staff to "question and challenge wherever possible ... the myths
and stereotypes" of LGBT communities. Most widely reported was the
handbook's rejection of the word "homosexual," which it said is "a medical
term used to criminalize lesbians, gay men and bisexuals in the 19th cen
tury." It recommends that, "The term should generally be avoided," while
noting that some older lesbigay people "may describe themselves this way."
And finally... the flamboyant gay character "Jack" on NBC's hit gay-led
sitcom "Will & Grace" is remarkably self-centered -- but not so the actor
who's won an Emmy for playing him. Sean B. Hayes stopped to help a man he
saw lying on the ground as he drove through Los Angeles last week. The man
had been shot in the leg by two men attempting to rob him outside his home.
Hayes took off his own shirt and pressed it to the bleeding wound until an
ambulance arrived. Hayes -- who's grown increasingly coy about discussing
his own sexual orientation since he first drew notice for his starring gay
role in the film "Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss" -- has tried to minimize
publicity about the incident, so it took about 5 days for word to get around.